In Costa Rica, the Gollo chain of stores invested $2 million in the opening of three new sales points in Guachipelín, Tibás and San José.
Representatives of the company dedicated to commercialize electrical appliances, furniture and other similar articles, informed that $1 million was invested in the operation of the store in Guachipelín, and in the stores in Tibás and San José, the investment totaled $500,000 each.
The Unicomer group plans to invest $5 million this year in the opening of six new stores for its brands Gollo and Curacao and five new Opticians.
Unicomer Group's plan for this year also includes a new remittance service in tills in the Gollo and Curacao stores.Through an alliance with Western Union it will provide the money transfer service in 40 stores initially, and later this will be expanded to other outlets in the country and in Central America.
Every day more and more retail companies are selling their products through their own websites, climbing up the wave of change already being felt in traditional sales formats.
In Costa Rica, even though statistics show a slight decrease in total purchases made by online consumers, trading companies are optimistic and predict a growth in the long-term trend, as is happening in other markets .
With a $12 million investment the chain opened its distribution center in Coyol of Alajuela.
The appliance’s store new distribution center has 20,000 square meters.
"Currently, Gollo Group, a market leader in sales of home appliances, has 105 outlets across the country and generated 1,350 jobs,” writes Elfinancierocr.com.
The company announced the opening of six new stores and that it will relocate several of its current shops.
For the month of November, GOLLO is preparing the opening of new outlets in San Vito de Coto Brus, downtown San Jose, Palmar Norte and Santa Rosa de Pocosol in San Carlos. These new stores will generate 27 direct jobs.
Also as part of the policy of the company´s expansion plan, GOLLO projects to remodel and relocate some of the current stores to larger facilities which are better equipped in order to ensure better customer service.
Companies from different sectors have implemented and unemployment insurance system to attract buyers.
As an example, the real estate developer Urbis offers a policy that allows buyers to recover the total amount they have paid toward the purchase of their home in the event they should lose their job.
The chain El Gallo mas Gallo offers a three month grace period if a job is lost.
The big electrical appliance chains do not foresee opening any new stores this year.
The Gollo chain with 104 stores and M Group with 180 will focus this year on consolidating the outlets that they already have.
Hassel Fallas, in his article in Nacion.com, published statements by Eduardo Cordova, Gollo marketing manager: "These days, opening more stores is very difficult.